Photography by Tim Grote
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Seeding Pics
In a few of these pictures you can see where we have seedlings germinating in the slits already!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Seeding
Now that all of the fairways and tees have been aerated and cleaned we are moving to the next phase of improvement. This step is to seed any thin areas with the goal being to reincorporate bentgrass. Most of these areas are ones that just haven't healed from last season, others are from tree roots encroaching the edges of the fairways at the sub-surface level and sucking water and nutrients away from turf roots, some are from poor drainage and some are from standard thinning of turf throughout a growing season. All areas that we felt wouldn't cover quickly through natural bentgrass recovery were seeded.
The seeding process was accomplished by using a tractor slit seeder to cut a series of groves through the thatch that allow the seed to reach the soil.
The areas where there was very little turf cover to start will be roped off but we would like to ask that everyone is mindful of any spot that seeding is even suspected. We aren't able to rope every spot so please keep carts off seeded areas as much as possible.
We are starting to tackle some rough seeding as well and while we understand that there will be areas where driving through the seed can not be avoided we ask that you are mindful of those areas also.
Lastly, we would like to address our weekly fairway mowing's as it relates to the seed work. While we still plan to continue mowing the fairways 2x per week, we have decided to discontinue our clipping cleanup for the next couple weeks. We understand that this is not cosmetically pleasing; however, it is necessary to protect the newly seeded areas.
The seeding process was accomplished by using a tractor slit seeder to cut a series of groves through the thatch that allow the seed to reach the soil.
The areas where there was very little turf cover to start will be roped off but we would like to ask that everyone is mindful of any spot that seeding is even suspected. We aren't able to rope every spot so please keep carts off seeded areas as much as possible.
We are starting to tackle some rough seeding as well and while we understand that there will be areas where driving through the seed can not be avoided we ask that you are mindful of those areas also.
Lastly, we would like to address our weekly fairway mowing's as it relates to the seed work. While we still plan to continue mowing the fairways 2x per week, we have decided to discontinue our clipping cleanup for the next couple weeks. We understand that this is not cosmetically pleasing; however, it is necessary to protect the newly seeded areas.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Aeration Update
All tees and fairways have been aerated. Other than rain pushing us back a day this could not have gone any smoother. Now on to cleanup....
The back nine holes will be opening today at 12 pm. The rain yesterday evening stopped us from getting the back nine as clean as we would have liked. However, we hope to do a little more work on the back nine before and during play. We are holding play until 12 pm because we need the cores completely dry before we can start to work them.
Some progress was made on the front nine holes before the rain yesterday. We hope to have it cleaned the rest of the way this afternoon.
I also would just like to mention again that I am very thankful that the membership would allow us to improve the course in this fashion and hope that it was no more than a slight inconvenience while taking drastic steps forward. I can't emphasize enough how important aerification is. I have seen the results of poor aerification and of great aerification and the results are staggering.
Here are some photos of the aeration process.
The back nine holes will be opening today at 12 pm. The rain yesterday evening stopped us from getting the back nine as clean as we would have liked. However, we hope to do a little more work on the back nine before and during play. We are holding play until 12 pm because we need the cores completely dry before we can start to work them.
Some progress was made on the front nine holes before the rain yesterday. We hope to have it cleaned the rest of the way this afternoon.
I also would just like to mention again that I am very thankful that the membership would allow us to improve the course in this fashion and hope that it was no more than a slight inconvenience while taking drastic steps forward. I can't emphasize enough how important aerification is. I have seen the results of poor aerification and of great aerification and the results are staggering.
Here are some photos of the aeration process.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Fairway Aeration Update
Hurricane Isaac has finally made it's appearance which has thrown our aeration plans for fairways into a chaotic mess of question marks. Here is what we do know:
1. Our plan was to get a jump start this evening (Monday September 3) at 5pm. this is not going to happen. We have had over 2" of rainfall already this morning and it is still going strong.
2. It will be to wet to plan on starting tomorrow morning on September 4, especially with the threat of rain still lingering.
Based off this, we have decided that the course will be closed through Wednesday September 5 with closing on Thursday September 6 also being a good possibility. While we apologize for any inconvenience we also know that this is undoubtedly the right decision for the golf course. Proper annual aeration will drastically help to improve the fairways in the long and short term. Please check with the pro-shop for the potential availability of Thursday tee times.
1. Our plan was to get a jump start this evening (Monday September 3) at 5pm. this is not going to happen. We have had over 2" of rainfall already this morning and it is still going strong.
2. It will be to wet to plan on starting tomorrow morning on September 4, especially with the threat of rain still lingering.
Based off this, we have decided that the course will be closed through Wednesday September 5 with closing on Thursday September 6 also being a good possibility. While we apologize for any inconvenience we also know that this is undoubtedly the right decision for the golf course. Proper annual aeration will drastically help to improve the fairways in the long and short term. Please check with the pro-shop for the potential availability of Thursday tee times.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Greens Venting
On Thursday 8/30/12 we vented greens 4,9,12 and 17 for improved water infiltration and gas exchange in the soils. As promised this process has been very noninvasive to playability.
Here are some photos of greens venting with 1/4" solid tines:
Here are some photos of greens venting with 1/4" solid tines:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)